Inspiration: What you have to understand...

The phrase "what you have to understand" rarely refers to something I have to understand.— Steve Johnson.

“What you have to understand…” refers to some internal situation that prevents the company from delivering on their promises.

I hear it a lot:

We cannot do x because of situation y.

We cannot do what’s right by our customers.

We cannot do what’s best for the business.

We cannot follow the industry’s best practice.

You've heard it too. Listen for this in your work. And then ignore it. Your company history is gone; it’s time to focus on what works in today’s business reality without worrying about some internal barrier that is stopping you from doing what needs to be done.

About Steve Johnson

Steve Johnson is a product management process coach, author, speaker, and advisor. His approach is based on the belief that minimal process and simple templates result in a nimble product marketing and management team. Before founding Under10, Steve was a Pragmatic Marketing instructor for over 15 years and personally trained thousands of product managers and hundreds of company senior executive teams. Learn more at www.under10playbook.com

In his spare time, Steve enjoys making music, and has an album available on iTunes. Check out Steve’s music at notExactlySteve.com